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Latest — 17 Dec 2025

How I Chose My 2025/2026 Annual Review Format: The Criteria I Use

What I think an Annual Review should do I think a good annual reflection requires 3 things: 1. Data Collection - getting input on what actually happened from your calendar, journals, etc. 2. Reflection - processing what all this data means, what you learned, but the questions need to be

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My Takeaways From Amp It Up (Surprisingly Not About Hustle)

The book's title – Amp It Up: Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity – sounds like it promotes "hustle culture". But it's actually about real execution, not just relentless physical effort. One, to focus first on execution (before strategy) for three

I Was Terrible at Conversations. Here's the Tape.

Here's a recording from one of the first cold calls I ever did, way back in 2013. Erika0:00/276.3721× I can't listen past 34 seconds without cringing. Notice that: * The call lasted almost 5 minutes, but because of how badly I started, I lost

From Employee to ALG to Self-Employed in Germany: Everything I Learned About Registration, Insurance, and Taxes

I just had coffee with a friend who asked me about switching to self-employment in Germany. In case it’s helpful, here’s everything we talked about. Disclaimer: This is my personal experience, not legal or tax advice. I’ve done my best to be accurate, but had to make

I miss the Blogger/LiveJournal days

I want to write more. Not to write a novel or to market my business, but just to process and communicate about what’s happening in life. I’m not trying to be profound. 99% of life is not profound. Just like telling a friend about what happened today shouldn’

I miss sleepless nights

I miss sleepless nights. The earliest time I can recall… It was probably summer of 2001, one or two years before my dad passed away in the summer of 2003. I remember because I just completed 5th grade. We were supposed to take a vacation to Boracay with my dad’

I just reached 23 kyu on OGS - here are some techniques that actually helped

I started playing 19x19 one week ago at 25 kyu. Since then, I’ve played 36 games and won 21 (58%). Not bad — but I kept making the same mistakes, and my rating stayed stuck. I’d hit 24 kyu, lose a game or two, then drop right back to

2025Q2 Quarterly Quests

For my quarterly goals this Q2, I wanted to experiment with two things: 1. Be less focused and increase the diversity of my goals, i.e. I want to set goals beyond just business and money. 2. Write down my why, to remind myself of the real goal. I was

5 early lessons from 9x9 Go / Baduk

I’ve been playing Go for one week, mostly 9x9 games. Overall, I've played 359 games and won 172 (48% win rate). But in my first 10 games, I lost 7 out of 10 (30% win rate). Here's a snapshot of my OGS (cokiengchiara) metrics. I

Gemini in Google Workspace: A first look and initial thoughts

I just installed Gemini in my Google Workspace. This is a first look and my initial thoughts. Here's what it looks like on the sidebar of Google Slides: In Google Slides, I asked it to name my framework, and it... created a slide! Wow, didn't expect